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The Chocolate Making Process

Grace Chocolates produces chocolate from a raw cocoa bean.

This process is called bean-to-bar chocolate making.

We begin with a careful selection of cocoa beans by type and origin.

The finished chocolate is unique and delivers a delicious and adventurous tasting experience made with cocoa beans sourced Direct & Fair Trade from around

the world.

01

Roasting

Roasting is a critical first step in making great
chocolate. This creates several chemical reactions which affects the taste of the chocolate. Roasting also sterilizes the cocoa bean. Good chocolate always starts with proper roasting utilizing an in-house roast profile developed for each particular cocoa bean.

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02-03

Cracking/Winnowing

After roasting we crack the cocoa beans into pieces and then separate the husk from the nib. 

The more thorough the husks are removed the better the chocolate will taste. The roasted cocoa beans are run through a course mill to crack the cocoa beans into large pieces (called nibs)

and the husks are separated from the beans and blown

away (winnowing).

04

Conching/Melanging

Conching is the process used to give quality chocolate a characteristic taste, smell and texture without the use of artificial chemicals. Melanging is the process of reducing the particle sizes of both cocoa solids & sugar crystals in finished chocolate. This is also the step when additional cocoa butter, sugar and powdered milk (for milk chocolates) are added to the chocolate liqueur. Our chocolates are conched and melanged for a minimum of 72 hours.

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05-06

Tempering & Molding

Tempering chocolate is what gives the chocolate bars a finished appearance and nice snap when you eat it. It also stabilizes the fat crystals in the chocolate, which adds to the shelf life of a chocolate bar.

 

Molding: Once the chocolate is tempered it can be rendered into molds. Since the chocolate is liquid it will flow into a mold and take the shape of that mold for a smooth finish.

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07

Packaging

Once the chocolate has set up it is removed from the molds and is ready for final packaging. Grace Chocolates uses a high quality wrapper with a food grade liner. This helps to protect the chocolate and also gives the consumer the choice to break-away part of the bar and still be able to re-wrap the remaining portion for a later time, or eat it all at once!

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